Portsmouth overdose death exposes some weaknesses in combating drug problems

By Andrea Bulfinch

abulfinch@fosters.com

Friday, February 1, 2013

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Jennifer Landry

PORTSMOUTH — A 22-year-old woman paid just $45 for the heroin that killed her in November.

Now Portsmouth Police are saying their war on the deadly drug continues with the aid of tools such as confidential informants and undercover officers.

Their police work led to the arrest of Jennifer Landry, 41, of Portsmouth, on Jan. 7 on two felony drug sale charges, one which alleges she caused the death of another as a result of selling a heroin to 22-year-old Svetlana Filippenko. Filippenko’s brother found her dead Nov. 21, the day after police claim she bought the drug from Landry.

Landry was arraigned the same day and faces up to life in prison for the death and is being held on $50,000 cash bail at Rockingham County Jail.

According to police, Filippenko was not only a buyer of drugs, she was selling them as well.

In January 2012, an detective along with a confidential informant working under the “guidance and control of the Portsmouth Police Department,” purchased about one gram of heroin from Filippenko.

Undercover informants are one way Deputy Police Chief Corey MacDonald said law enforcement is able to reduce drug sales and use in the city.

He said the proper approach to eradicating drugs from the Seacoast community lies heavily in “early education and on enforcement directed at dealers.”

“We do not believe that you can arrest your way out of the drug problem,” he said when naming what the proper approach to the problem is.

In Portsmouth confidential informants, undercover officers, cooperating individuals, and others are helping police identify and catch drug dealers. He said officials partner with the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office to ensure “those who would profit from addiction go to the state’s prison.”

Treatment-based programs such as the Rockingham County Drug Court and other diversion programs for non-violent offenders are working effectively, he said, and law enforcement believes in their benefits.

Years ago the concept was that law enforcement officials were fighting the “war on drugs,” a label McDonald said is misleading as wars ultimately end. The fight to keep drugs out people’s hands is a constant battle.

“This is more like a challenge to educate our young adults to make healthy drug-free choices,” he wrote. The way to do that, he said, is by suppressing demand, or arresting drug dealers publicly, and showing children the true costs of drug addiction.

Early intervention, however is suffering, he noted, due to the lack in state aid funding, meaning many programs are unable to operate, like the now defunct Community Diversion Program out of Greenland, which focused on delinquency prevention.

A lack of school resource officers also adds to the challenge creating a “diminished ability to put drug abuse education presented by police officers into the schools.”

“This leaves us with less tools to educate our young adults who may be headed down the wrong path,” he explained.

He also said the outlook on things improving in the future with residential programs and others doesn’t look positive either due to budget concerns. Currently he said there are very few resources.

One thing that is being done, however, and that MacDonald said is very helpful is the drug court program.

In Rockingham Superior Court, Judge Nadeau began the Drug Court “and that helps users kick their habit and avoid prison.”

As to why Landry is responsible for Filippenko’s death when the young woman made the decision to ingest the drug, MacDonald said it is because Landry was dealing a Schedule 1 drug.

“The lethality is so high and thus it has no redeeming use or value,” he explained.

The legislature has made it a felony to sell someone a known poison that can result in death and which then does in fact result in death. He said the legislature’s decision “is absolutely appropriate.”

“The law does not alleviate personal responsibility,” MacDonald acknowledged. “Obviously the user who overdoses pays the ultimate penalty, but the criminal who is profiting off that drug addiction deserves to think about it in state prison.”